Foreign language tutors are quite common in lists of books banned by the Inquisition. Check for example this page in the 1844 Indice general de los libros prohibidos, which records the proscription in 1797 of a French-Spanish commercial correspondence course and of an English-Spanish conversation primer published in 1719 by the Anglican minister in Seville.…
Message received from an intermediary re a service offered elsewhere: “Hla me interesa blah blah blah, si me envias un movil te lamo, gracias blah blah.” Magic LL!
A rebujito is a dry sherry (manzanilla, fino) or occasionally a white wine to which fizz (lemonades, …) has been added, typically in a ratio of 1:2, in order to give you a head-start on the alcohol. This is the lite version of whichever British drink it is that has you knock back a third…
Yes, I know that modern Aragonese ultra-nationalists aren’t quite the same as old German ultra-nationalists, but that c/z swap does look rather unfortunate, doesn’t it.
Urquhart, The Pillars of Hercules, Or, A Narrative of Travels in Spain and Morocco in 1848: “I observed, on a placard, the two following signs of progress and civilization, in titles of new works: ‘The defender of the fair sex,’ and ‘The Ass, a beastly periodical.’ The words were ‘Il Burro, periodico bestial.” Re the…
I omitted one feasible fraudulent etymology from the Viadós post because the etymon in question is little known and less read, even in his own country, whichever that was. Here he is anyway, in another anecdote from Cela‘s late but frequently excellent A bote pronto: Some 65 years ago, more or less, possibly more, when…
Disturbing developments in Lebanese pâtisserie: “This country is like a cake. On the top it is cream. Underneath it is fire.” Reminds me of the sofa-bed encountered last night in Ramón Gómez de la Serna, Greguerías, with dreams below and conversation on top. For some reason this is more popular in Portuguese (“os sonhos ficam…
Cool post over at Aentwaereps about the Antwerp singer, Willy van de Velde, who grew up above the Bernad family’s “Spanish shop”, took guitar lessons from Ilse Alfonso, and called himself El niño de San Andrés because it sounded cooler than something like That geezer from St Andrew’s. As Godzjumenas observes, there’s no direct trace…
Re “EL PALACIO DE CONGRESAOS DE BOLTAÑA”: congresado, da. (Del part. de congresar). 1. m. y f.coloq. Persona que se deja mandar a congresos. It’s still rare, but here’s an example: el candidato emite su mensaje a unos congresados pasivos, pero no se convierte, a la vez, en receptor del sentir y el parecer de…